29 May 1933 – 28 February 2026

The Hockey Museum is saddened to report the death of Monica (Mon) Pickersgill who died at her care home in Wakefield on Saturday 28 February.

Mon was one of the most influential and significant figures people in English women’s hockey at the end of the twentieth century. She was elected as the fifteenth and final President of the All England Women’s Hockey Association (AEWHA) in 1992, with a mandate to deliver the AEWHA centenary celebrations in 1995 and to steer the women’s governing body towards a new joint association with the English men’s Hockey Association (HA). The merger of two such long-standing, independent Associations was never going to be easy, but Mon successfully delivering the joint association in 1997. She then led the new English Hockey Association (EHA) as its first President for a full three-year term.

Mon, as she was always known, was born Monica Horton in Barbados to an English father and Barbadian mother. The family moved to England when she was one; she grew up in the Midlands with her two sisters and went to Sutton Coldfield High School where she first played hockey.

 

 

Mon trained at City of Worcester Training College where she met her husband-to-be, Peter. After graduating, she took her first teaching job in Yorkshire. She played at Dewsbury and Saville, Leeds, and Wakefield hockey clubs, but didn’t go to Yorkshire trials until 1960 when she was in her late twenties. She was immediately selected for the First Eleven and played for a further 17 years, 12 as captain. She was selected to represent the North where she played alongside the likes of Bar Rylands, Freda Walker and Val Robinson. Mon was named as an England reserve in 1965 but never got the call up for a full international cap. As her playing career moved into coaching and administration, Mon was invited to join numerous schools and coaching committees where her organisational skills and ability to work with others came to the fore.

 

 

Mon was elected as North President in 1989, but only two years later was asked if she would stand as the next AEWHA President. Not one to blow her own trumpet, Mon had to be persuaded to stand for election. She was not well known outside of the North Territory, so it was initially assumed that the then Vice-President, Pam Parker, would win the vote. Enquiries from round the country to colleagues in Yorkshire and the North soon established that in Mon, they had a potentially outstanding and forward-looking woman who was capable of guiding the AEWHA through the challenging years ahead. She was duly elected. Mon may have been new to the national and international scene, but years of experience as a teacher, working on numerous North and Yorkshire committees and captaincy on the pitch had all come together to give her real insight into working with people and managing change.

 

 

In her early days in the role of AEWHA President, Mon took time to get to know all aspects of her new role. Sue Whitaker (née Slocombe), former England and Great Britain coach, gave this assessment:

“Mon was a wonderful support to Jen Cardwell (Manager) and me when she was President. We were trying to develop a more professional approach within the England women’s hockey team and Mon was 100% behind us. In the era before Lottery Funding, money was scarce and one season the players and management pulled together to raise sufficient funds for training sessions. We had to stay in cheap hotels, often sharing three to a room with one person having to sleep on a tiny made-up bed. At one such training session, Mon joined us to experience the challenges we faced – sleeping on the small bed! Mon was an exceptional leader who always put the needs of the players and management as a priority. She shared our vision and worked tirelessly to support us.”

Mon worked with Bar Holland (the previous AEWHA President) in staging the AEWHA centenary celebrations in Sheffield in May 1995. A mammoth undertaking but one she was immensely proud to stage in her own county of Yorkshire. It was one of the biggest gatherings of hockey players: from international matches to grassroots games, and juniors’ fixtures through to masters’ matches; all were played over a weekend of glorious weather. A Centenary Dinner was held at the splendid council offices on the Saturday night. In the oral history interview that Mon gave to THM in 2015, she talks about this occasion in more detail.

Oral Histories: Monica Pickersgill – The Hockey Museum

A much bigger challenge for Mon was the work to bring tother the men’s, mixed and women’s hockey associations. The merger was being driven by pressure from the Government and the International Hockey Federation (FIH) but there was significant resistance from all parties to multiple aspects of the deal – from the name of the new organisation to staff appointments, to gender representation. It took great skill and perseverance to get the parties over the line. In Rafaelle Nicholson’s academic article “Holding Their Own? Assessing the Merger of Men’s and Women’s Field Hockey in England” (The International Journal of the History of Sport, published June 2024), she stated:

“Uniquely amongst the English team sports which underwent mergers between 1993 and 1998 (football, hockey, lacrosse, and cricket), the first ever president of the new, merged association in hockey would also be a woman: Monica Pickersgill. Pickersgill was in fact voted in by the members of the Steering Group ahead of her Hockey Association counterpart, Robin Elliott – a mark of the respect with which she was regarded by her colleagues. Her ascendancy to the very top of the [new] English Hockey Association also symbolized the continued influence of the AEWHA during the merger process.”

Sue Catton, former England Hockey board member and lead for the 2012 Olympic Hockey tournament backed this up by saying:

“Without Mon’s determination, influence and resilience I believe that a single association for our sport would have been significantly delayed and negatively impacted.”

Tracy Willis came to work as Mon’s assistant in 1997 and has given an insight into working with her in those early years of the new joint Association:

“Mon had that rare ability to be both formidable and deeply kind. If she was on your side, you knew it – and if she thought you could do better, she would tell you that too. That honesty came from a place of belief in people and in the game she cared about so much.

 

“Mon always seemed to find exactly the right words when thanking sponsors, players, support staff and volunteers. She understood the importance of recognising others and did so with sincerity and grace – often followed by a cheeky aside that gently lightened the formality of the moment. It was classic Mon: dignified, but never stuffy.

 

“She was collaborative, open, and genuinely committed to doing what was best for hockey. High standards mattered to her, but so did people.

 

“On a personal note, Mon was the person who hired me and encouraged me in countless ways. Over time, that professional relationship became a friendship. Her frank Yorkshire ways were such a joy to be around – direct, warm, and often very funny. She used to say she was lucky with the people in her life. I would always tell her it wasn’t luck; it was a reflection of who she was. She was a genuinely wonderful person, and we loved her for it.”

When the EHA went into receivership in 2003, only six years after it had been set up, doubt was cast on the role played by all those involved in the setting up and running of the organisation in those early years. This suspicion was felt deeply by Mon and, sadly, she never felt as much a part of the national game after that. The lack of acknowledgment of the significant role that she had played in leading AEWHA for six years, driving through the merger of the men’s, women’s and mixed associations and then leading the new EHA for its first three years was finally addressed in 2022. A group of her supporters petitioned England Hockey and in December 2022 she was presented with the England Hockey Lifetime Achievement Award by the then President Mike Stoddard. A moment she was immensely proud of.

Monica Pickersgill presented with an England Hockey Lifetime Achievement Award – The Hockey Museum

 

 

As interesting assessment of Mon’s character was made in an article penned by John Herbert in Hockey Sport magazine in 2001. In “Monica Pickersgill – This Is Your Hockey Life”, John takes a detailed journey through her hockey career and her role in the merger of the men’s and women’s associations following the end of her term as President of EHA – click the PDF icon below to read it. This article was written before the EHA went into administration in 2003.